89′ GOAL! 3-2! And the Zebras respond immediately, throwing everyone forwards they are exposed at the back and Sanders picks out Duku who takes it down and volleys home!

88′ GOAL! 2-2! The Strikers level it late! A bidwell chip into the box and Reynolds nods home.

The Zebras are sitting very deep in defence here and Devonport controlling the ball and probing but unable to find any chinks in the armour. They have played ball after ball into the box and knocked it around nicely around the box but they just can’t create any clear chances.

79′ Walsh with a vital clearance to get a foot in before Wicks could get home a dangerous cross that Mann somehow managed to whip in from the byline on the volley.

78′ Shot off! Holden slides one through to Argent after some tidy play but he can only find the side netting.

70′ SUB- Buga replaces Kadisha who is on a yellow and just had his final warning. Chances not flowing at the moment with defences on top.

62′ Slice of Cheese! Pace in late on Dance with a poor challenge and into the book he goes.

58′ Slice of Cheese! Kadisha grabs Wicks to stop him charging in behind and goes into the book,

56′ Reynolds makes a crucial challenge to get a foot in and stop Walsh as the Zebras looked odds on to score.

54′ GOAL! 2-1! Sanders steps up and converts the spot kick!

54′ Penalty! Sanders looks to get past Zaikos who gets the ball but also clips Sanders trailing leg and the referee points to the spot!

53′ Shot on! A curler from distance by the Colonel is gathered by Zaikos.

51′ Dance makes a goal line block to deny a Huigsloot header but the whistle had blown for a foul on Zaikos in the build up.

46′ Holden threads it through to Mann who runs through but can’t get around Lewis who defends well.

HALF TIME: Devonport 1-1 Hobart Zebras

The Strikers started to get on top the longer the half wore on and could have taken the lead as the game progressed after a pretty good start from the Zebras. Still plenty to play for.

45′ A Holden corner is nodded over the bar by Reynolds.

41′ Shot on! Holden plays a sharp one-two and races into the box before trying to place one home bottom corner but Mercuri gets down to make the save.

36′ Shot on! Holden blasts it from range and Mercuri sees it squeeze through him and spin just wide of the post. Could have been a howler from the keeper there but gets away with it.

33′ Shot on! Walsh shows great strength to hold off a defender then turns and fires from range but Zaikos saves comfortably.

30′ Shot on! Mann steps up and curls a free kick from just outside the box that Mercuri gets down to clasp to his chest.

25′ GOAL! 1-1 The Strikers level it up, Holden slides in a perfect through ball for Mann to run onto and the Captain guides it home with a delightful first time finish!

17′ GOAL! 1-0! Reynolds with a poor back pass that plays in the Colonel and he hammers it home near post, Zaikos gets a piece of it, but can’t keep it out!

9′ Shot off! Groenewold again picks out the wall with his free kick, then

4′ Shot off! What a miss! Pace has missed an absolute sitter, Huigsloot shielded it for him and from 5 yards out he somehow smashes his volley wide.

3′ Groenewold blasts his free kick into the head of Andrews and it rolls behind for a corner.

2′ Slice of Cheese! Gates gets in behind Reynolds who brings him down to stop him storming into the box.

1′ Kick off, underway at KGV.

TEAMS

Hobart Zebras host a Devonport side trying to revive their suddenly stuttering campaign, having dropped points in their past 2 games to fall 4 points behind South Hobart at the top of the table. But if Devonport are stuttering then the Zebras have stagnated, and the trip South doesn’t appear quite as daunting as it once might have. After taking 13 points from their opening 5 games of the season, Zebras have now taken just 10 from their past 10 games. Yet in spite of their poor run of results, they still boast the best defence in the league, conceding a league low 12 goals. This isn’t overly surprising given the injuries have hit them at the other end of the park, and their strong back 5 of Mercuri, Hey, Groenewold, Lewis and Warrener have all played the majority of the games. Their problem has been scoring goals, hitting multiple goals in a match just once in their past six outings. With Sanders having to drop deeper into midfield and the likes of Walsh and Mckeown missing games they simply haven’t had the firepower up top. Against a strong Devonport defence this week with Reynolds looming as a good match up for Huigsloot, it’s hard to see them scoring too many goals this week either. But can Devonport crack the tough Zebras defence?

Featured

The appetite for a professional sporting franchise down here remains as ravenous as ever. Tasmanian’s love their sport and they have been starved of representation in National competitions, looked over time after time. The AFL clearly won’t be the ones to sate that hunger, thus FFA finds itself with the chance to both fill that gap in the market and strike a blow against the AFL in one fell swoop.